We All Scream For Ice Cream - Whats In Your Favourite Sweet Stuff

So I'm going to start this off by saying that yes, I know we all know ice-cream is bad for us. And yes sometimes the things bad for our physical health and just what we need for our mental health. Bad day at work? Chocolate hasn't failed me yet. However, not everyone is aware of just how bad some ice creams are, and some people who are trying to be healthy but can't resist a scoop in this awesome weather might be pleased to know which ice cream does the least damage.

First of all, it's confusing trying to compare all the different ice creams. They don't all use the same GDA measurements, some are measured in grams and some are in mls. Also not all the mls to grams conversions are the same. Depending on the fat content some ice creams weigh more than others- for example a tub of HB vanilla ice cream has 900ml which is 430g, whereas the Ben and Jerry's Phish Food has 500ml which is 431g. It can be confusing if you're trying to compare different types in the supermarket before you buy. So I decided to compare them all per 100ml, which is roughly two tablespoons. This is the suggested serving size, but I'm pretty bloody sure I've never seen someone serve themselves just two spoons of ice cream from a tub! So you could easily double or triple these values for a more accurate picture of what you're eating.

Fun facts about these most delicious ice creams (sorry in advance if I ruin your favourite treat):

Of course my favourite of the line up, Haagen Dazs Pralines and Cream, would be the worst offender. Realistically I would never only have 2 tablespoons, I'd have more like 6. So a sitting could easily set me back over 700 calories, over 40g fat and 60g sugar. Crikey!!! Even a 5k run the next day wouldn't burn that off.

Your mother knew what was good for you when she gave you a slice of HB vanilla ice cream between two wafers. At just 85 calories per 100ml, it is the best of the bunch. I think it's because it's less dense than the others, it's more milky rather than creamy and so packs in less calories. Either way, Mother really did know best.

Haagen Dazs are the fattiest of the bunch. They're probably the creamiest tasting too, and it's all the cream that it helping to push up it's fat content. It's probably why they taste so good. The Pralines and Cream one contains 14.5g fat per 100mls and the Strawberries and Cream one contains 14.2g fat per 100mls. I want this to put me off Haagen Dazs but it doesn't, in fact I just have a craving for Pralines and Cream.

Ben and Jerry's Phish Food is the most sugary of them all. I find Ben & Jerry's taste really artificial and there's always a lot going on in each tub. With chocolate, caramel, marshmallow and fudge in this bad boy, we probably shouldn't be too surprised that it's so sugary. It contains 24g of sugar (for every 2 tablespoon), so a generous bowl would probably have you meeting your RDA of sugar.

Haagen-Dazs - Pralines and Cream (per 100mls)

Calories 246

Fat 14.5g

Sugar 20.1g

HB - Vanilla Ice Cream (per 100mls)

Calories 85

Fat 3.5g

Sugar 9g

Ben & Jerry’s - Phish Food (per 100mls)

Calories 230

Fat 10g

Sugar 24g

Haagen Dazs - Strawberry & Cream (per 100mls)

Calories 221

Fat 13.9g

Sugar 14.2g

Oreo Ice Cream (per 100mls)

Calories 235

Fat 11.4g

Sugar 18.8g

Flake Ice Cream (per 100mls)

Calories 205

Fat 11.1g

Sugar 18.6g

While a world without ice cream is not a world we want to inhabit, it's worth being clued in to how much calories, fat and sugar are in each tub so you can be a bit more careful with your portion sizes and how often you eat it.

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